Beach Erosion Worries Officials In Hallandale

January 10, 1987|By DEBORAH MILLER, Staff Writer

HALLANDALE -- The city won`t have a beach by 1999 if something isn`t done to shore up its eroding coast, city and Broward County officials say.

Surveys taken since the city`s one-mile stretch of beach was replenished with about 200,000 cubic yards of sand in 1979 show that it has narrowed from 150 to 75 feet, said Thomas Sullivan, Broward County district engineer for the erosion prevention district.

Without adding about 400,000 cubic yards of fresh sand, buildings on the city`s beach will be at the water`s edge in 12 years, Sullivan said.

Hallandale`s desire to replenish its beach has been thwarted by Hollywood, its neighbor to the north.

Hollywood`s commission has refused to apply for government grants to pay for most of the $14.7 million project. Without Hollywood`s participation, neither city can get the grant money, according to government guidelines.

As an alternative, Hallandale is considering buying sand from the Bahamas to use on its beach.

Sullivan said purchasing the sand from a private contractor would be extremely costly, but he said Hallandale must take some type of action. Sullivan said he didn`t know exactly how much a private contractor would charge.

``The problem is that the buildings in Hallandale (initially) were built too close to the water,`` said Hollywood City Commissioner John Williams. ``I don`t think we should have to pay for someone else`s mistake.``

Hollywood City Engineer Marshall Bergacker said Hollywood`s beach did not need to be replenished yet.

``Hollywood`s case may not be as bad as Hallandale`s,`` he said. ``We`re not built as close to the shoreline.``

Williams said erosion is a problem only at the north end of Hollywood`s beach. He speculated that old buildings there could be purchased by the city and torn down if the erosion problem gets worse.

Intindola said that if a strong storm hits Hallandale, 30-to-40-feet waves could wash away the lifeguard stands.

Hallandale on Tuesday agreed to seek the government grants but without Hollywood`s participation. Officials from the Broward County Environmental Quality Control Board refuse to apply for the grants, which would provide $12.9 million of the project`s cost. The remaining $1.8 million would have to paid by the two cities and the county.

Hollywood on Wednesday refused to apply for the federal and state grants to pay for the program because a similar project in 1979 left huge rocks and coral on the city`s 4.2-mile stretch of beach.

``It costs a lot to do a beach project,`` Sullivan said. ``You use the same equipment to do a very small job as to do one great big beach.``

The project eligible for government financing entails dredging sand from the ocean`s floor and dumping it on the beach.

Hallandale officials said contractors should be required to agree that they won`t get paid if the work is not satisfactory.

But Williams said the county gave the same assurances in 1979 that the sand would be free of rocks, but after the first minor storm, ``people could hop from stone to stone.``